Mindmapping puzzles

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Should students be made to mind map at school?[edit]

Some, I know, get on well with it, find it motivating and helpful in remembering their studies. It’s good that they learn to think and remember with them and have them as a tool for later in life.

But many quickly learn to hate them, it’s easy enough to see messages that make that clear in Twitter. Try these:

  • Urgh! This sucks! I wasted a lot of time doing these stupid mind maps! SOCIAL STUDIES IS KILLING ME!
  • @dilaariff: i do not like mind mapping ._.
  • @sealedcherry Done with geog speech, now to do the mindmap argh i hate mindmaps who the hell invented mindmaps anyway

@ashleyproud wrote “Critical thinking is the hardest component for my kids – they hate mind mapping” and I think that’s part of the reason. I’m sure that some of those who believe they hate mind maps are really reacting against the thinking that making a good mind map takes.

It’s encouraging to see tweets like this: “@omGwenzilla feel like buying an entire rainbow set of textas for my mind map approach to studying – so colourful & fun!” and there are plenty of them, but that serves to illustrate that there should be flexibility.

People who could benefit from mind maps in generating ideas, planning and organizing think of them as just “kids stuff” and miss the opportunity to use them as adults.

In 2014 Biggerplate the mind maps library, released a report from a survey of mind mappers which Roy Grubb reviewed on his mind-mapping.org blog and this does shed some light on students’ reaction to mind mapping. Take a look now!

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